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worm

Syllabification: (worm)
Pronunciation: /wərm/

Translate worm | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of worm

noun

  • 1any of a number of creeping or burrowing invertebrate animals with long, slender, soft bodies and no limbs.
    • Phyla Annelida (segmented worms), Nematoda (roundworms), and Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and up to twelve minor phyla
  • short for earthworm.
  • (worms) intestinal or other internal parasites.
  • used in names of long, slender insect larvae, especially those in fruit or wood, e.g., army worm, woodworm.
  • used in names of other animals that resemble worms in some way, e.g., slow-worm, shipworm.
  • a maggot supposed to eat buried corpses:food for worms
  • Computing a self-replicating program able to propagate itself across a network, typically having a detrimental effect.
  • 2 informal a weak or despicable person (used as a general term of contempt).
  • 3a helical device or component, in particular.
  • the threaded cylinder in a worm gear.
  • the coiled pipe of a still in which the vapor is cooled and condensed.

verb

  • 1 [no object] move with difficulty by crawling or wriggling:I wormed my way along the roadside ditch
  • (worm one's way into) insinuate one’s way into:the educated dealers may later worm their way into stockbroking
  • [with object] move (something) into a confined space by wriggling it:I wormed my right hand between my body and the earth
  • (worm something out of) obtain information from (someone) by cunning persistence:I did manage to worm a few details out of him
  • 2 [with object] treat (an animal) with a preparation designed to expel parasitic worms.
  • 3 [with object] Nautical, archaic make (a rope) smooth by winding small cordage between the strands.

Phrases

(even) a worm will turn

proverb (even) a meek person will resist or retaliate if pushed too far.

Derivatives

wormlike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/

adjective

Origin:

Old English wyrm (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Latin vermis 'worm' and Greek rhomox 'woodworm'

worm in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of worm in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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